Review: McIntosh MPV881 Blu-ray Player

We love the McIntosh brand, though most people will think of it as primarily an audio brand that makes great amplifiers. The company also offers a reference-level Blu-ray player. Here Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity put one through its paces:

McIntosh is one of the most distinctive, and iconic, brands in all of Hi-Fi. Sporting a look that seemingly has never changed, they are most well known for their two channel amps and preamps, but also have a full line of home theater components as well. Their MVP881 Universal Blu-ray player is a disc player that can handle virtually any format you throw at it with an analog section designed by McIntosh. How would it stack up against some other universal Blu-ray players?

So how’s it perform?

Moving onto Blu-ray performance, the first impression that the MVP881 makes is that it’s a bit slow compared to other current players. Load times for most discs that I tested were often a minute or more behind other players, and menu navigation was pokey as well. Once a film started then everything was fine, but it just took a while to get there compared to other players.

…On the MVP881 the image was sharp and clear, as you’d expect from a Pixar title on Blu-ray, and the lossless soundtrack exploded from the speakers, bringing you inside the racecars on the track. Aside from the loading time, films looked and sounded fantastic on the MVP881.